This walk: 2015-2-11. RAF Harrowbeer, Roborough Rock, Allan Williams turret, drinking fountain, Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee monument, Devonport Leat, Plymouth Leat, Sheepstor, kissing gates, Elford Town Farm, Yeoland Consols Mine, Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt's horse-drawn tramway.
Walk details below - Information about the route etc. Previous walk in this area: 28th November 2012. A partially overlapping walk from Clearbrook - 8th December 2010. Most photographs on this page were taken during a 'recce' on 26th January. Zoomable 1884 6-inch Ordnance Survey map of the area Zoomable 1888-1913 6-inch O.S. seamless map of England & Wales.
The former Watch Office of the WW2 airfield of RAF Harrowbeer, now the Knightstone Tearooms & Restaurant, showing the location of a notice board .....
RAF Harrowbeer information board, similar sign to that seen on the 17th October 2012 walk around the Common and the airfield except for the map being oriented the other way round (top-to-bottom) because we are on the opposite side of the airfield here ..... the airfield was built for fighters during WW2 when Plymouth became a target for German bombers .....
The tea rooms and restaurant - the white building was the wartime Watch Tower.
Roborough Rock - the 'dry' one as opposed to The Rock Inn, Yelverton. Also known as Udal Tor, Ullestor and Hurlestone Rock (1765).
Attention, class, Miss is speaking!
Showing the proximity of the remains of the remains of the Allan Williams turret, this was a simple anti-aircraft system using converted .303 machine guns or similar. Allan Williams is hyphenated on some web sites, but the designer was actually one A.H. Williams .....
Closer view .....
Another view.
A drinking fountain erected to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria .....
There seems to be an airlock - on twisting the knob, there is a little pressure escape but no water!
Yes, it was funny!
Nothing wrong here!
Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd, Kilmarnock (on the Grace's Guide - British Industrial History web site), Glenfield & Kennedy (on the Future Museum web site), Glenfield Valves Ltd (the modern company, part of a conglomerate.
A Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee commemorative monument .....
"Victoria Regina 1837-1897" - she reigned 20 June 1837 - 22 January 1901 (63 years 7 months, she died aged 81).
"The material that I have to work with ............"
Dug over ground in the area across the road .....
The bridge ahead is over the Devonport Leat, opened in 1801 .....
Signpost .....
This photograph shows the Devonport Leat and, across the road and behind the tree trunks - in front of the greenery, Plymouth Leat - built by Sir Francis Drake in 1591 ..... the road (also the cycle track) is built over the old horse-drawn tramway built by Sir ThomasTyrhitt, this was the old Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway, opened in 1823.
World War 2 connecting pipe from Devonport Leat to Plymouth Leat to take drained water from RAF Harrowbeer, note the two stones to the right in Devonport Leat .....
Closer view of the connecting pipe .....
Two stones and earth that form a sluice in Devonport Leat: the purpose of this is to promote drainage into Plymouth Leat. The drained water (rain run-off) ends up going into the old Crymes Leat (known to today's Commoners as Clearbrook Leat) and then runs downhill to the River Meavy and thence into the River Plym at Shaugh Bridge.
Showing Devonport Leat right alongside the local access road (the former tramway).
Habitat piles left by the Dartmoor Preservation Association Conservation Team after they cleared Devonport Leat.
Another view of the road ahead.
This walk takes the path towards Hoo Meavy.
Seen along the way .....
Elford Town Cottage - "Elford Town" was the local area, the name of which became corrupted later to "Yelverton" - ostensibly when the railway was built and a name was needed for the station.
The track down to the footpath .....
Zoomed view to Sheepstor .....
The overview.
Epiphytic Common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) growing on an overhead branch.
Last time we were here there were Gloucester Old Spot pigs to see.
Railway bridge (GWR to Princetown), at SX 5210 6701.
A kissing gate, where the post and struts are made from bent railway rails. Having discovered the origin of the "kissing" aspect, I am disappointed, no need to "pucker up" ever again! The etymology of the name is that the gate merely touches ("kisses") the enclosure on either side, rather than needing to be securely latched - and I thought it was all to do with good old fashioned philematology!
Close-up of the old, rusty rails.
Elford Town Farm.
The old railway bed, alongside the footpath.
Leaning over a fence, there seems to be an old lane here.
General view - railway on ther left, lane on the right.
A second kissing gate at SX 52076 66623 ..... with a heavy growth of mosses on the wall .....
Close-up of a moss, looking like a frond of bracken.
Drainage under the railway embankment .....
Closer view .....
Closer still, through the wire mesh.
Remains of the Yeoland Consols Tin Mine, 1881-1892 (a good link, click CTRL+F on your keyboard and then put "yeoland" into the search box at top right and pressing Return to highlight Yeoland on the web page) ..... at SX 5211 6650 .....
One of four very well preserved buddles for separating ground tin ore from crushed rock i.e. sand .....
Another view of the old mine building.
Sign along the way .....
Another sign, no doubt made by the farmer.
A second tunnel, running uphill .....
Closer view .....
View from the other end, looking downhill.
Beside the tunnel, the stile.
View uphill from near the stile.
There it is - Chubb Tor!
Over there might be Chubb Tor - a mysterious and ethereal entity - with some saying it does not exist ..... although a nearby house is called "Chubb Torr" and another is called "Chubb Tor Cottage" .....
Another view.
View through the woods after the stile.
Unusual "tidemark" of wind-blown leaves - the rest of the field was clear of leaves.
Breach in Devonport Leat, presumably for sluicing purposes .....
Stile alongside the leat, with a clapper bridge seen through the fencing .....
The clapper bridge, over Devonport Leat .....
Drinking trough with a "step-up" for shorter-legged animals.
Dartmoor pony eating gorse .....
Closer view.
The embankment of Devonport Leat where it crosses the Yelverton golf course.
Spring is coming!
Another view of Devonport Leat on the golf course.
Beside the road, and slightly lower, Plymouth Leat.
Milepost 13 from, presumably, Crabtree, the original starting place of the Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt's Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway, opened 26th September 1823 .....
"13"
Clapper bridge over Devonport Leat, beside the road at SX 51907 66940 .....
View from the road to the bridge - note the "tile" at bottom centre .....
What is this?
Back at the original bridge over Devonport Leat, looking along some remains of Tyrwhitt's tramway, much of which is under the road we have just travelled .....
A piece of iron rail, all that remains of Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt's horse-drawn tramway (opened 1823), this tramway being the beginnings of the Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway which became a steam railway. The original tramway ran from Crabtree (then extended to Sutton Pool) to Princetown, with various branch lines added later. The granite setts have two holes for fastening the rails.
MAP: Red = GPS satellite track of the walk.
This walk was reached by turning of the Roborough-Yelverton A386 road at the Crapstone turn-off, taking the first turning on the right and parking in one of the old aircraft bays on the old WW2 airfield, marked by the yellow cross on the map.
Statistics
Distance - 4.91 km / 3.05 miles.
All photographs on this web site are copyright © 2007-2016 Keith Ryan.
All rights reserved - please email for permissions